A perfect symmetry between the top and the bottom, marking Paris 2024’s desire to offer equal and equal Games; a ripple, a tribute to the key role of the Seine during the ceremony and the Olympic Games and recalling the fact that it is by sea that the flame will arrive in Marseille, from Greece, on May 8, 2024. Finally, a “golden champagne” color, a nod to Marianne’s face which has become the emblem of the Games at home.
The elegant French style torch abandons its traditional style, tight at the bottom, flared at the top, to become, according to its creator, “a sculptural element, very pure”, symbolizing “sharing, peace, cohesion, fraternity and transmission”. “The torch is one of the great symbols of the Games, believes Thierry Reboul, Director of Ceremonies and Creation at Paris 2024. We regularly try in our teams to create a break so that these Paris Games are like no other. This torch with its background and the meaning that Mathieu Lehanneur wanted to give it embodies the ambition that we want to give to this event. »
The elegant French style torch abandons its traditional style, tight at the bottom, flared at the top, to become “a sculptural element, very pure”, symbolizing “sharing, peace, cohesion, fraternity and transmission”.
Some see in this torch, produced by Arcelor Mittal, a Greek amphora or even a muscle, “engine of Olympism”, according to Mathieu Lehanneur. For several months, the designer, who had participated in the renovation of the glass roof of the Grand Palais and fitted out the Café Mollien at the Louvres, worked on this torch that the 1,0000 torchbearers of the Olympic Games (and 1,000 for the Paralympic relay) will pass to cross 64 territories, for 68 days, in the spring of 2024. The torch, “which transmits fire”, is also a technical and technological object. The object is entirely made of steel, with different finishes. The upper part is thus more matte and satiny while the lower part is polished.
“We worked with the minimum of components, of thickness to limit the carbon footprint as much as possible”, explain the Paris 2024 teams. Arcelor Mittal will produce 2,000 torches (in its desire to organize sustainable Games, the Cojo will not allow, as was the tradition, each carrier to keep the torch). “They are produced entirely in France, from recycled steel,” explains Isabelle Chopin, Communications Director of Arcelor Mittal France. All of the steps are designed to reduce CO2 emissions. »
Arcelor Mittal will produce 2,000 torches.
The first three stages will take place at the factories in Châteauneuf (Loire), where the steel will be cast, in Florange (Moselle), for rolling (up to a thickness of 0.7 mm) and in Woippy (Moselle), where this time the sheet metal will be cut into sheets. The last two are entrusted to partners from Acelor Mittal, a goldsmith who takes care of the shaping and then a coating specialist who will give the torch its appearance and its champagne color.
The final stage, the assembly of around ten parts, is managed by Arcelor Mittal. The cauldron, developed by the same teams and which will house the flame during the Olympic Games, will be unveiled in a few weeks.
